So is 'Hamilton' all that? Find out in minute-by-minute review.

Crowds go into the entrance of the opening-night at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts as the touring production of the culture-shifting, hip-hop-flavored Broadway musical “Hamilton” begins its long-awaited run in Fort Lauderdale. The show will run through Jan. 20.

Crowds go into the entrance of the opening-night at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts as the touring production of the culture-shifting, hip-hop-flavored Broadway musical “Hamilton” begins its long-awaited run in Fort Lauderdale. The show will run through Jan. 20.

And is it even possible for “Hamilton” to be as (if you’ll pardon the pun) revolutionary as everyone says it is?

Oh my yes. The rousing Broadway phenomenon’s reputation is well-earned, for this musical is seismic — hip hop and urban rhythms mashed up with Great White Way showbiz fizz. That sound, unconventional as it might be for show tunes, gives this musical drive.

And it syncs up perfectly with the thrust of the show, the swagger of a young country created through improvisation and recklessness. Alexander Hamilton, fresh off the boat, lays it out when he spits the rhymes “I am not throwing away my shot. Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry, and I’m not throwing away my shot.”

If all you know about Alexander Hamilton is that he’s the dude on the 10 dollar bill, then prepare to be schooled. “Hamilton,” in a furiously fast-paced way, follows the sparkling career and private life of one of this country’s Founding Fathers, including the scurrilous scandals and tearful tragedies.

His timeline is what the show is all about. Here’s our timeline of how the evening went.

7:04 p.m. We never get to a venue this early for an 8 o’clock curtain, but we’ve been repeatedly warned that the Broward Center will be packed to capacity, so here we are.

7:20 p.m. The main lobby is a sea of wide eyes and wider smiles. Eavesdropping in on conversations, the themes seems to be either “Wasn’t traffic terrible?” and “Finally, it’s here.”

Rod Stafford Hagwood / southflorida.com

A police dog in the lobby of the Broward Center during "Hamilton."

A police dog in the lobby of the Broward Center during "Hamilton." (Rod Stafford Hagwood / southflorida.com)

7:25 p.m. A police dog and an officer walk through the lobby. It might be my imagination, but I could swear the dog is smiling.

7:30 p.m. On the way to the bar, we run into Nolan Etheridge and his 15-year-old daughter, Lyric, of Clearwater, in line at the FunClick Photo Booth and wearing 18th century costumes. Lyric — who is dressed as Alexander Hamilton, complete with facial hair — tells us that her duds are hand-made and she bought them off a fellow cosplayer. “This is a result of daughter-daddy date and she has access to my Amazon account when I’m out of town,” explains Nolan, glancing down to his cravat, waistcoat and breeches. “So I came home and this was waiting for me in my chair.”

Rod Stafford Hagwood / southflorida.com

Father and daughter Hamilton fans Nolan and Lyric Etheridge from Clearwater. The family supports cosplay charity CostumersWithACause.org out of Orlando and Tampa.

Father and daughter Hamilton fans Nolan and Lyric Etheridge from Clearwater. The family supports cosplay charity CostumersWithACause.org out of Orlando and Tampa. (Rod Stafford Hagwood / southflorida.com)

7:55 p.m. After pre-ordering cocktails for intermission — trust us, you do not want to have to wait for a beverage and try to navigate the bathroom line in the scant 15-minute break between acts — we take our seats in the theater. Looking around we see a mix of demographics, perhaps a larger young contingent than most Broadway shows see.

8:07 p.m. The lights begin to dim and the rush of rap begins, torrents of lyrics delivered in rhythmic patter that whisks the story along at a bustling pace. The set is minimal. Ropes suggest a ship’s rigging. Chairs, tables and benches are swept on and off stage in choreographic flourishes.

8:11 p.m. This is a sung-through musical, which means there is very little dialogue. The fluidity of the language from the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda (book, music and lyrics), seems like it might slip right by you. It will not, for it is lively. And vibrant. And insistent. Four minutes into the show and Hamilton (played by Joseph Morales, one moment all cool assurance, the next scorching and intense) has already left the Caribbean island of Nevis and arrived in New York City in 1776. One minute later we meet Aaron Burr (played by a magnetic Nik Walker) who, in a major spoiler, sings “And I’m the damn fool who shot him.”

8:13 p.m. Looking around I can see the audience is transfixed. No one is talking to a seat mate. No one is wrestling with a cellophane-wrapped treat. It occurs to me that it could be that the crowd is engaged or it could be that no one wants to miss a single nanosecond after paying big bucks for the pricey tickets. Either way, they are laser focused.

Joan Marcus / Courtesy

Shoba Narayan, Ta'Rea Campbell and Nyla Sostre as the Schuyler sisters in "Hamilton."

8:18 p.m. As if things weren’t moving fast enough, the action shifts into a higher gear when a turntable platform is revealed. In the narrative there is talk of revolution. Two minutes later the Schuyler sisters arrive center stage cooing their best Destiny’s Child harmonies. Hamilton will marry Eliza Schuyler (Shoba Narayan, whose voice has star quality) and find himself attracted to the sprightly mind of Angelica Schuyler (a controlled and centered Ta’Rea Campbell, at times evoking a languid Lauren Hill).

8:27 p.m. “Hamilton’s” humor often rises out of ping-ponging reads, those insults with punchlines that go by several names — the dozens, roasting, snapping — in the black and black-adjacent communities. There are plenty of debates and Miranda knows how to set political pontificating ablaze with wit and wisecracking. Nevertheless, the first big and sustained laughs in the show come from the preening and trilling King George (Jon Patrick Walker, delightfully hamming it up) who doubts whether the colonies stand a chance.

8:50 p.m. Hamilton has become Gen. George Washington’s (Marcus Choi, bringing the boom) aide-de-camp, much to the consternation of Burr who sings, in that silky soulful way of a Ne-Yo or an Usher, his bafflement at Hamilton’s rise in the song “Wait For It.” No, not all of “Hamilton” is rap. There is a mix of R&B, pop and what any Broadway fan would recognize as a show tune. Every now and then there is a DJ record scratch sound effect, as if to remind us from where all this creativity springs.

9:05-9:21 p.m. Hamilton, in a bit of bravura, raps “Immigrants, we get the job done.” A woman sitting behind me gives that line a hearty “Whoo.” It is dizzying how much ground the story is covering: a duel, temporarily falling out of favor with Washington, starting a family, the Federalist Papers and Hamilton nabbing the Secretary of the Treasury job for now-President Washington.

Rod Stafford Hagwood / southflorida.com

The main lobby of Fort Lauderdale's Broward Center before the Dec. 19 performance of the national tour of Broadway phenomenon "Hamilton."

The main lobby of Fort Lauderdale's Broward Center before the Dec. 19 performance of the national tour of Broadway phenomenon "Hamilton." (Rod Stafford Hagwood / southflorida.com)

9:25-9:30 p.m. During intermission, I ask the Etheridges how many times they plan to see “Hamilton” as the national tour crosses Florida well into March. Lyric answers, “We’re going to see it three times. This is stop No. 1. The second time is in Orlando in January. We’re bringing some friends with us. We have a friend who is literally flying from Denver, Colorado, because he can’t find tickets anywhere. So we’re like, ‘Hey, we have an extra one, come see it with us.’ And the third one is Tampa in February and that we are bringing family with us.”

Nolan says the show is more than he could have imagined. “I’ve listened to the [cast album] a thousand times in the car with my daughter. And seeing it live opens up new depths that I didn’t imagine because you don’t see the back and forth in the audio.”

They say their seats are in the mezzanine. “I brought binoculars,” Nolan says.

“And I brought opera glasses,” Lyric adds.

9:40 p.m. As we make our way back to our seats, I overhear a conversation between two elderly patrons. “Do you understand what they’re saying?” she asks. “Some of it,” he answers.

9:45-9:51 p.m. As the second act starts, it’s 1789 and a foppish Thomas Jefferson (Kyle Scatliffe, making the most of the comic relief) returns to the States after serving as the French ambassador. Of course in this refresh of American history, Jefferson samples from Biggie Smalls with “If ya don’t know, now ya know.” You can spot the hip hop fans in the audience by their nodding in approval. Jefferson delivers that line in a ferocious rap battle against Hamilton and exits afterward with a pimp walk. The embers from this roast will fire the remainder of the story.

Joan Marcus / Courtesy

Jon Patrick Walker as King George in the national tour of "Hamilton."

Jon Patrick Walker as King George in the national tour of "Hamilton." (Joan Marcus / Courtesy)

10:00-10:10 p.m. Burr’s singing of “The Room Where It Happens” gets huge applause. And the rap battle that follows is virtuosic.

10:27 p.m. For the first time all evening, I hear the rustle of cellophane coming from somewhere from the middle orchestra-level section, just a row or two behind the conductor. I notice some of the same people who sat in rapt attention two hours ago are now starting to twitch their legs and shift in their seats.

10:48 p.m. The Burr/Hamilton duel is here and as the shot is fired, the production’s stagecraft bends time, stopping the scene and rotating it. Miranda pulls out his last trick from the rap milieu: The spoken word. You can’t believe you didn’t see it coming, but it is as it should be.